The High Court in Ireland has referred a review of a complaint against Facebook to Europe's top court. The complaint alleges the social network shared EU users' data with the US National Security Agency. The European Court of Justice is to assess whether EU law needs to be updated in light of the PRISM revelations, which could …

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Wednesday 18th June 2014 13:58 GMT Duncan Macdonald

Could be a fine mess

If the ECJ rules against Safe Harbour - then a lot of US businesses will have problems. (Cloud providers and search engines especially).

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1. Wednesday 18th June 2014 19:08 GMT Matt Bryant
  
  Re: Duncan Macdonald Re: Could be a fine mess
  
  "....a lot of US businesses will have problems...." Their problem will be moving their EU servers to a location that (a) allows them to minimise tax, and (b) allows them to avoid EU privacy laws, and (c) has good enough telecoms to allow the average Faecesbook user to quickly upload the dross they post without hitting the cancel button in frustration. Russia is one such option, and has the added benefit in that you can buy protection from Putin and his chums, making even Russian law irrelevant.
  
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  1. Monday 23rd June 2014 10:45 GMT Matt Bryant
    
    Re: Duncan Macdonald Could be a fine mess
    
    LOL, four down votes but not one reply offering a reason as to why Facesbook couldn't just move their servers to a more 'data-collection-friendly' country like Russia. In fact, the only way to stop such companies is to stop giving them your data!
    
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Wednesday 18th June 2014 14:05 GMT John Savard

One Problem

Aren't all these allegations by Snowden just uncorroborated hearsay anyways? As far as we know, they could have been created in Photoshop! Well, except for what the White House has subsequently admitted to, in efforts to give a reason to want to put its hands on him...

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1. Wednesday 18th June 2014 14:25 GMT wolfetone
  
  Re: One Problem
  
  The USA wouldn't be desperate to get Snowden back to America if it was all "uncorroborated hearsay".
  
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2. Wednesday 18th June 2014 23:49 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Re: One Problem
  
  Uncorroborated hearsay is a lot more trustworthy than the American government.
  
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3. Wednesday 18th June 2014 23:58 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  The Secrets Of Room 641A
  
  @John Savard: "Aren't all these allegations by Snowden just uncorroborated hearsay anyways?"
  
  'The Secrets Of Room 641A' -- how it works - testimony of Mark Klein.
  
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4. Thursday 19th June 2014 08:15 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  "Aren't all these allegations by Snowden just uncorroborated hearsay"
  
  Oh really Mr Savard? ... How naive of you...
  
  ................."Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and web searches on Google - as well as webmail services such as Hotmail and Yahoo - are classified as "external communications", which means that they can be intercepted without the need for additional legal clearance - When someone searches for something on Google or posts on Facebook they are sending information overseas - constituting an act of external communication which could be collected under a broader warrant, - Privacy International said the interpretation of the law "patronises the British people" and showed that spy agencies operated under their own laws" - BBC News - Google and Facebook can be legally intercepted, says UK spy boss
  
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27887639
  
  ................."This latest revelation shows that intelligence agencies want to see everything and identify everyone. - Their attacks on identity databases around the world shows just how right the UK was right to abandon the national ID [card]. Any national database is now a treasure trove for intelligence agencies, both domestic and foreign" BBC News - NSA 'collects facial-recognition photos from the net'
  
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27663130
  
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Wednesday 18th June 2014 14:12 GMT Mage

MS

Microsoft in Ireland has already lodged their OWN complaint with US authorities.

So it's not hearsay.

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Wednesday 18th June 2014 14:36 GMT Anonymous Coward

Looking promising

Maximillian Schrems was also involved in the challenge that lead to the invalidation of the European Data Retention Directive: http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2014-04/cp140054en.pdf

This man has a future.

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1. Wednesday 18th June 2014 15:11 GMT Semtex451
  
  Re: Looking promising
  
  To Max Schrems, a toast
  
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2. Wednesday 18th June 2014 23:50 GMT Trevor_Pott
  
  Re: Looking promising
  
  "This man has a future."
  
  One in the head and two in the chest?
  
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3. Thursday 19th June 2014 22:26 GMT Oninoshiko
  
  Re: Looking promising
  
  Not to mention a totally awesome name. He sounds like a James Bond villain... I wish I had a name like that!
  
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